It’s going to be quite something to see what the taxpayers of New York are going to make of the spectacle opening today at the Park Avenue Armory. It’s a work called “WS” by the artist Paul McCarthy, whom no less a blue nose than The New York Times calls a “demented imagineer.”

He has erected within the taxpayer-funded space what the armory’s promotional material calls “a massive, fantastical forest of towering trees with grotesque video projections of iconic characters playing out their own fairy tale drama in a replica of his childhood home.”

“This daring social commentary,” the armory boasts, “lampoons the American dream and its cherished icons, bombarding the viewer with a sensory overload of scatological, sexual, violent, and debaucherous imagery that boldly forces the viewer to acknowledge the twisted underside to saccharine idols in popular culture.” It calls the result a “visceral, very challenging, immersive experience.”

It’s a glory that artists can push the edges of the envelope. My concern here is with the taxpayers who are forced to provide funding. 

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